DUSHANBE, November 5, 2008, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon today morning presided over the opening of the third unit of the Russian-built Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
Speaking at the unit-introduction ceremony, the president noted that the construction of the Sangtuda-1 station had started in the Soviet time already but it had been suspended “for several years due known reasons.”
“Fortunately, after singing of an agreement between the governments of Tajikistan and Russia on procedure and rules of investing in the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectricity project the construction of the station was resumed,” the president said, noting that the construction of the Sangtuda-1 station is the largest investment project with participation of the Russian Federation and its companies within the CIS area. “It is evidence of a broad cooperation between really strategic partners,” Rahmon said.
According to him, since January 20 this year, when the first unit of the Sangtuda-1 station was introduced into operation, the Sangtuda-1 station has generated 840 million kWh of electricity that allowed reducing electricity deficiency to a certain extent.
As it had been reported earlier, speaking to reporters in Dushanbe on October 27, the Barqi Tojik top manager Sharifkhon Samiyev said that with introduction of the third unit of the Sangtuda-1 station into operation and beginning of transit of Turkmen electrical power via Uzbek power systems to Tajikistan on November 1, electricity supplies will increase in the country. “The supply of daily electricity in the regions will be increased to eight hours: four hours of electricity in the morning and four in the evening,” the Barqi Tojik head said.
We will recall that the opening of the first unit of the Sangtuda-1 station was held on January 20, 2008 and the second unit of the station was put into operation on July 1, 2008.
According to open joint-stock company (OJSC), Sangtuda HPP-1, the station currently generates some 4.5 million kWh of electrical power per day.
The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to a civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s. The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed an inter-governmental agreement.
Russia retains a 75 percent share in the power plant, which will generate a projected 2.7 billion kWh of electricity per annum. The power station will have an estimated capacity of 670 MW.
